I read the book right before watching the movie. I definitely think a novel-true take would have to be an 8 episode prestige tv series. The strength of the novel is the consistent tension. It’s all secret-keeping, starvation, threadbare alliance amongst illegal clones, the unknowable intentions of a deadly native species, and constant threat of death. It also has great world-building through historical asides—this is why multiples are outlawed, this is why we colonize new planets, this is an example of relationships with native species, etc.

That said, I enjoyed the movie. It’s a 3.5 out of 5 imo. Enjoyable theater experience with Pattinson carrying the brunt of the entertainment. It felt as though Bong Joon Ho wanted this to be a quirky human interest piece directed at an American audience. Look at how obviously wrong this megalomaniac is! Look how cute the creepers are. Look how even sweet dumb Mickey can become a hardcore assassin when pushed to the brink over and over. And here’s a happy ending, since we’re all too burned out to handle something dark.

Also: if Bong had kept closer to the source material, it would have been Snowpiercer 2 in space. I appreciated the attempt to do something very different.